Can someone one help me understand this i was reading up about hiv and i wanted to know what they mean by this

as the words dont make sense...Standard HIV antibody (ELISA) tests are at least 99.5% accurate when it comes to detecting the presence of HIV antibodies. This high level of sensitivity however means that their specificity (ability to distinguish HIV antibodies from other antibodies) is slightly lowered. Once an individual is out of the window period, it is more likely that they will receive a false positive result than a false negative.

ok this is my question what do they mean once the individual is out of the window period it is more likely they get a false positive rather than a false negative.?

do they mean it is more likely to get a negative than a positive?

In this case, false means incorrect. That is for a false positive the test comes back as positive for HIV when the person is really negative.

They are discussing the relatively rare instances when the test results are incorrect, and saying that it is more likely to a incorrect positive result than an incorrect negative result.

I think they are saying that HIV antibodies and other kinds of natural normal antibodies are so similar that the test is so sensitive that it can produce a positive for HIV by the test reacting to a non HIV antibody.

after reading your other two questions about HIV,I think you should get tested.that way you will have a chance to talk to a professional.you will be able to ask questions about things that you are not sure of.don't be embarrassed,just get tested.

it means that after the window period (six months?) it is more likely that if an error in the test occurs you will be more likely to get a false positive than a false negative.